School is open most of holidays apart from certain dates bank and few other for example this holiday was closed friday through to Tuesday and reopened today.
I have keys for 80% of areas all other areas I can access by getting keys from front offices (which have keys to access) and for front door (but don't have alarm code and don't want it).
So I can get to just about any part of the school..
Russ
We've got access to *most* of the internal doors (all classrooms, and some offices). Key IT Areas (our spaces) are number coded. We've also got keys to one outbuilding that's often kept locked during the day.
Our place is open from 8:00-4:30 monday-friday excluding the bank holidays and the 3 days at christmas.
School is always open through the holidays apart from bank holidays
As for keys we are officially not allowed any which is a bit ridiculous, and it makes holidays really frustrating because the caretakers are very rarely anywhere you can find them
We are building up a collection of keys though, as over time teachers have given us spares or we've got copies of important ones we need. Maybe we shouldnt but it makes life a lot easier
We get keys to all the doors in the school, apart from certain rooms, such as the head's. But we don't have keys to the school, which is just as well.Originally Posted by sidewinder
One of the things we are having installed is an electronic door lock system on key doors around the school (so external gates, computer rooms, staff rooms, staff only areas and our inner front door). This system can be linked into our alarm system if we want to in the future so certain members of staff can be given access to the school without them needing to know any numbers - all they do is wave their unique proximity card near the door and voila.
I've also mentioned the fact that other aspects can be tied in to the system, for example you could tie it into a zoned X10 system and when a certain keyfob is swiped it cuts the power to all the lights in the school etc... (Which, unsuprisingly, our site manager likes).
So, hopefully, one day, we will have access depending on what permissions are granted via the system rather than who has a key - as the system could be rolled out to all areas which need it and the classrooms all be put on a single key.
And where exactly to you get the money to afford such a thing?!
At our school, getting a key cut is seen as a needless expense when I can quite easily walk from one end of the school to the other, find the key holder, ask them for the key, go with them to get the key, walk back to the other side of the school with the key, unlock the door, retrieve the object (say, a black bin liner), lock the door, walk to the other side of the school, find the key holder, go with them to where the key should be stored, deposit the key, and the walk back to my office on the other side of the school!
I dunno, but we are replacing normal locks anyway as half the school has different sets of keys. So it is all part of the same thing.
It isn't *that* expensive really - it doubles the price of a new lock on a door - which isn't too bad for a centrally controlled door system.
Plus, if you look at it this way - an ID card with proximity built in costs about £10 altogether per person. This card can then be used to allow access to whichever rooms they need access to and if it is lost it can just be disabled in the system. Compare that to having different keys - on a master lock system each key costs about £5, and if one is lost we have the possibility that all the locks that that key can open would need replacing.
So the initial outlay may seem more expensive but the TCO actually *should* be much cheaper.
I have keys to the block where my office is and most of the rooms containing lots of 'puters. I also have a gate key.
I don't have a fob to turn the alarm off though so I cannot sneak in. To be honest though, i wouldn't want to be in work alone... you hear horror stories of places being turned over during holidays (sometimes by armed thieves!) and it leaves you open to accusations if bad things happen. It's a sad world that we live in unfortunately.
I'm not too worried about crime down here. It is headline news if someone breaks a window somewhere... Still, I don't often need to be onsite on my own so it is not much of an issue.
Plus, it is a case of trust - if they accuse you of something without any valid evidence then it is a case of unfair dismissal.
Wow - full set of master keys + alarm codes here. Makes life *so* much easier in the holidays!
I'd like to offer a word of warning - as you're local!
I know your site is different from ours - but we have had a *lot* of thefts here, something on the order of 30k over 1.5 years or so. (PM me if you want more detail) - but do be careful - lot of opportunists in our neck of the woods!
As for why you dont hear much about it in the local paper....
I have keys to just about every internal door and most external ones too except for the main school entrance and I don't have an alarm fob but I'm hoping to change that soon as it would be soo much easier.
Generally school is open until 4pm all through the holidays except on bank holidays.
Ben
No keys for me, but the school is opened every working weekday apart from when the caretaker takes his annual leave. (He's on holiday this week)
I don't find this too much of a problem as, being independent, we have lengthy holidays anyway. It's not hard to find days when the kids are out and the school is open.
I am part-time, but am contracted to work the equivalent of 1 working week during the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays. This suits me. If I need more time than that, I have to negotiate to be paid! Anyway I usually have enough time to get things done without being dragged away to sort out the latest printer jam; with the bonus that I can work this around my own children's state school holidays.
I wonder if it's those who work in larger schools that get the full compliment of keys?
Although my school isn't small for its area - since it's a rural school it would be considered small when compared to its urban counterpart. As a result I think the staff in our school are much more intertwined with each other, and thus fewer people have the large responsibilities (such as locking the doors). However, I can't work out if this is a good thing or not.
Our school is open 51 weeks a year, with a public sports centre and creche. So the site is open 7am to 5pm virtually every workday.
I've always had the schools master keys thankfully, otherwise as it would add hours to our workdays.Only senior teaching staff, IT support and premises staff have these keys.
The only place I can't get in easily is the principals office and the finance office, which isn't a big deal.
I did have the alarm codes but haven't needed to go in on a weekend for a couple of years - the wonders of VPN :-)
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